“Branding in advertising is on-going, with new visual elements continually added and subtracted” (Phillips, McQuarrie and Griffin, 2014, 318).
As Marketing and Press Manager it is my role to ensure that a cohesive brand identity is established as well as connecting with our target audiences. The first few weeks of my role encompassed translating our manifesto, mission statement and project ideas into a visual brand; that is, creating a logo, a colour scheme and so on. In terms of the logo, difficulties presented themselves when trying to create an image which looked aesthetically pleasing yet successfully interpreted our company name. To aid my process, and to provide inspiration, I set up a Pinterest account and produced a ‘mood board’ based on images which considered words like, ‘refraction’, ‘identity’ and ‘light’. You can view under the Documentation > Marketing
Below you can see some of the original designs I created, along with the finished product.
The final image combines parts of initial explorations to formulate a strong, clear logo that can easily translate onto posters, flyers, social media accounts and company documentation.
The next step in continuing the establishment of our brand identity is to create and distribute posters and flyers, both across campus and throughout the city and to begin teasing out content of our show. I aim to have two campaigns; the first, a teaser campaign and the second being the main promotional campaign involving the local press and distribution of materials. As our show features the idea of viewing the ‘true image’ in photos and recognising personal experiences in global events, I have asked the company to draw, paint or sketch their own interpretations of global events. In doing so, I intend to use the images and distribute them with our logo and date of the show on the back, to one, hint at the content of the piece and two, tease and stimulate interest in the show and our company. The images used will be integrated into our main poster design; successfully creating visually consistent branding elements and externally facing materials.
Works Cited
Phillips, B., McQuarrie, E. F. and Griffin, W. G (2014) The Face of a Brand: How Art Directors Understand Visual Brand Identity. Journal of Advertising, 43 (4) 318-332.